Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles greets students following a devotional featuring members of the Church Educational System’s Executive Committee in Laie, Hawaii, on Tuesday, January 28, 2025. Photo by Monique Saenz, BYU–Hawaii, courtesy of Church News. All rights reserved. | 1 / 8 |
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By Rachel Sterzer Gibson, Church News
The first tender branches of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Laie — a community on the northern shores of the Hawaiian island of Oahu — began to sprout at the arrival of missionaries in December 1850.
However, the fledgling Church struggled against neglect, persecution, poverty and apostasy. In January 1865, the purchase of a 6,000-acre plantation provided a safe place — a refuge — for Latter-day Saints to gather. From that plantation grew a community of Saints, which in the years since has been visited, praised and blessed by kings and queens, prophets and apostles.
“Those who went before and built up the Church and kingdom of God in these islands were not perfect,” noted Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in relating the above history. “Not all their decisions were the right ones or bore the fruit that was expected.
“What is most significant, however, is that so many of them persevered. They rose each day and went to work. They prayed and worked some more. When they needed to, they repented and began again. They loved and taught their children and each other’s children. They reached out to others with the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
With God’s blessing, the small efforts of humble individuals have grown into a temple, a university and a cultural center, said Elder Christofferson. “Millions are blessed by the influence of those who lived, studied, served and worshipped here and are extending those blessings to others, especially in their own families in many parts of the world.”
In speaking to those gathered in the Cannon Activities Center on the BYU–Hawaii campus in Laie, Hawaii, on Tuesday, January 28, Elder Christofferson honored the heritage of the school and area, urging listeners to keep its legacy of faith and build upon it.
“It is a serious, even sacred thing to build upon the work and achievements of those who have been diligent in their time. We take strength from our forbears. And now we must do our part. This is our day; this is our season,” Elder Christofferson declared.
Tuesday’s devotional featured a trio of speakers from the Church Educational System’s Executive Committee — Elder Christofferson, who serves as chairman, Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson — in addition to a plethora of special guests.
Elder Michael T. Ringwood of the Presidency of the Seventy; Elder Clark G. Gilbert, Church commissioner of education; BYU–Idaho President Alvin F. Meredith III; BYU–Pathway Worldwide President Brian K. Ashton; Ensign College President Bruce C. Kusch; and other university and local Church leaders were also in attendance. The devotional was conducted by BYU–Hawaii President John S.K. Kauwe III.
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Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, center, with Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, center right, and Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson, right, join BYU–Hawaii President John S.K. Kauwe III and his wife, Monica, at a devotional in Laie, Hawaii, on Tuesday, January 28, 2025. Photo by Monique Saenz, BYU–Hawaii, courtesy of Church News.All rights reserved.Take Inspiration From Forebears
Elder Christofferson related the experience of Ralph Woolley, who was appointed by Church President Joseph F. Smith to supervise the construction of the Laie temple in 1916. Young, single and newly graduated from the University of Utah with an engineering degree, Woolley felt unqualified and faced many challenges.
At that time, the United States became embroiled in World War I, and Hawaii faced shortages, including lumber. One day, Woolley knelt and pleaded for the Lord’s help. Without lumber, the work on the temple could not go on.
Upon returning to the construction site, Woolley was told that a lumber ship had gone adrift in Laie Bay. When he tracked down and contacted the owners of the ship, he was told, “You can have the lumber because we don’t know what we’re going to do to get that ship off the reef.”
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Sister missionaries serving in Hawaii attend a devotional featuring members of the Church Educational System’s Executive Committee — Elders D. Todd Christofferson and Ronald A. Rasband and Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson — on Tuesday, January 18, 2025. Photo by Monique Saenz, BYU–Hawaii, courtesy of Church News.All rights reserved.Said Elder Christofferson, “And so it was that the Lord provided.”
But while individuals today take strength from forebears, they must also do their part, he continued.
President J. Reuben Clark, then a member of the First Presidency, spoke of the pioneers who established the Salt Lake Valley: “We may claim no honor, no reward, no respect, nor special position or recognition, no credit because of what our fathers were or what they wrought. We stand upon our own feet in our own shoes. There is no aristocracy of birth in this Church; it belongs equally to the highest and the lowliest” (“To Them of the Last Wagon,” 1947 general conference address).
Added Elder Christofferson: “May we be resolved to measure up to our duties and opportunities in our time and season as those who have gone before measured up to theirs. Let us take inspiration from them and their legacy and join their spiritual aristocracy, not by any right of inheritance, but by serving the Lord as they did and by being true to all that is entrusted to us by God as they were true.”
Give the Lord Equal Time
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Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaks during a BYU–Hawaii devotional on Tuesday, January 28, 2025. Photo by Monique Saenz, BYU–Hawaii, courtesy of Church News.All rights reserved.In his remarks, Elder Rasband reiterated an invitation and a promise he shared on his social media channels earlier in January.
The invitation? “Give the Lord equal time.” The promise? “As you give the Lord equal time in the pursuit of higher learning, the Spirit will enhance your academic pursuits, you will find you have extra time and capacity for your courses, and doors will be opened for you that might have otherwise been closed,” Elder Rasband said.
He then shared the Joseph Smith Translation of Matthew 6:33. “Wherefore, seek not the things of this world but seek ye first to build up the kingdom of God, and to establish his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
As students strive to prepare themselves to get married, have families and get an occupation, “You cannot put the Lord and the work of the Lord on the shelf,” Elder Rasband said, adding, “The Lord will bless you in your righteous goals and endeavors, but He needs you, and He wants you to work to build up His kingdom and establish His righteousness.”
Elder Rasband also shared Job 31:6, “Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.”
Elder Rasband explained that a scale has a fulcrum in the middle and weights on either side. Pursuing an education might be a heavy weight on one side right now, but individuals can help add balance to the other side through gospel nourishment and training.
Elder Rasband again reminded those who think, “I don’t have time to do my church work,” that the Spirit will enhance their academic pursuits.
Get Rid of Windage
President Johnson invited students to imagine themselves as the owner of a boat before an approaching storm. “What would you do to secure and protect your boat … so that it doesn’t sink or run aground?” she asked.
They would need to make sure their boats are securely attached to a mooring buoy, which is secured to an anchor on the sea bottom or, in the case of a dock, check that their boats were secured at several points with ropes in good repair.
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Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson speaks during a BYU–Hawaii devotional in Laie, Hawaii, on Tuesday, January 28, 2025. Photo by Monique Saenz, BYU–Hawaii, courtesy of Church News.All rights reserved.To protect a boat, it’s also important to “remove windage,” she continued. Windage is anything the wind can grab — sails, flags, cushions, lights, dinghies. All must be removed or lashed down to reduce windage.
Comparing listeners to boats in a storm, President Johnson asked, “And to what should you be attached so you will be safe? What is your dock, your mooring, your anchor? It is your relationship with the Savior Jesus Christ.”
The Savior is steady, sure, rock solid, she said. “Are there things on your metaphorical boat creating windage — creating resistance to your attachment to Him? What, if anything, is keeping you from being bound securely to the Savior?”
Three potential sources of windage are: failure to employ the joyful gift of daily repentance, procrastination — including procrastinating joy and gratitude — and looking for validation and affirmation from unreliable sources.
President Johnson invited listeners to think about how they use their time. “Are we using our time to secure our attachment to the Savior, or are the choices we make for our time a reason we are flapping around in the wind? Is time an asset, or has time become windage?”
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